Barcelona have made a new verbal proposal to City for Rodri worth €60m plus add-ons, according to Fabrizio Romano — the closest the two clubs have come yet to bridging their valuation gap.
City are holding firm on an €80m valuation for the Spain international, but with the two figures now within €20m of each other, add-ons look set to be the mechanism that gets a deal over the line.
Romano’s latest take is that a structure landing somewhere between the two figures represents the most likely solution.
It’s the latest step in a saga that’s moved quickly.
Barcelona’s opening bid was rejected out of hand, and a second proposal worth €65m plus a further €5m in add-ons was still short of what City wanted.
This verbal offer represents Barcelona’s most concerted push yet to find a number City will accept, with Rodri understood to have already agreed personal terms in Spain.
City have been consistent throughout that they won’t sanction a cut-price departure for a player who only recently won the Ballon d’Or, and Enzo Maresca has stopped short of ruling out a sale.
With both camps reportedly keen to get the deal done quickly rather than let it drag into the final weeks of the window, add-ons bridging the final gap looks the most realistic path to an agreement.
Keep track of the latest on this and other deals on our live Man City transfer tracker.
